The miracle of large databases
Jan. 25th, 2010 02:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herewiss13This is what computers were designed for!
http://oracleofbacon.org/index.php
An automated "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" calculator. It harnesses all the data of the Internet Movie Database to see how closely any actor is connected to Kevin Bacon. So far, I haven't been able to find someone which a degree of connectedness higher than 3 (which probably says more about my film knowledge than anything).
The _really_ cool thing is that they can do these calculations for more people than Bacon. Apparently his average degree of separation is 2.9-something. Dennis Hopper is only 2.7...so we should play 6-degrees of Dennis Hopper.
Amusingly, #5 on the list of "best average connection" is Udo Kier, a man who's name I hadn't recognized, but whose face instantly makes you go "oh yeah." Think bug-eyed germanic villian guy. Lots of interesting bits and pieces of data like that on the site.
Number crunching at its finest! :-D
_________________
In other news, my grandfather is continuing to recover. His recovery got a boost today when they discovered that his lower denture plate, which had been missing since Thurday when he flatlined, showed up, broken in half, down his throat. And to think we figured the inflamation was just a reaction to the ventilator tube. For those keeping score, the man had the two halves of a broken denture plate lodged in his esophagus for almost four days until he managed to cough them up (surprising everyone). The hospital is conducting a review; as this, apparently, isn't supposed to happen. Personally, I'm more gobsmacked with the absurdity of it rather than pissed off...mostly because it's hard to be pissed off at the people who did, after all, save his life. I may have more on Grampa's own reaction once he can talk again. :-P
It's a bit sad when the same anecdote serves to illustrate human idiocy and human resiliency at the same time.
http://oracleofbacon.org/index.php
An automated "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" calculator. It harnesses all the data of the Internet Movie Database to see how closely any actor is connected to Kevin Bacon. So far, I haven't been able to find someone which a degree of connectedness higher than 3 (which probably says more about my film knowledge than anything).
The _really_ cool thing is that they can do these calculations for more people than Bacon. Apparently his average degree of separation is 2.9-something. Dennis Hopper is only 2.7...so we should play 6-degrees of Dennis Hopper.
Amusingly, #5 on the list of "best average connection" is Udo Kier, a man who's name I hadn't recognized, but whose face instantly makes you go "oh yeah." Think bug-eyed germanic villian guy. Lots of interesting bits and pieces of data like that on the site.
Number crunching at its finest! :-D
_________________
In other news, my grandfather is continuing to recover. His recovery got a boost today when they discovered that his lower denture plate, which had been missing since Thurday when he flatlined, showed up, broken in half, down his throat. And to think we figured the inflamation was just a reaction to the ventilator tube. For those keeping score, the man had the two halves of a broken denture plate lodged in his esophagus for almost four days until he managed to cough them up (surprising everyone). The hospital is conducting a review; as this, apparently, isn't supposed to happen. Personally, I'm more gobsmacked with the absurdity of it rather than pissed off...mostly because it's hard to be pissed off at the people who did, after all, save his life. I may have more on Grampa's own reaction once he can talk again. :-P
It's a bit sad when the same anecdote serves to illustrate human idiocy and human resiliency at the same time.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 12:40 am (UTC)Re item #1: I myself have a Kevin Bacon factor of ONE. I used to write for an actress who worked with him in a play called "Slab Boys." As a special bonus, I actually ran into her (we hadn't met before) at my neighborhood pizza joint and introduced myself and we chatted during the actual run of the play.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 12:51 am (UTC)...of course, if you met the Baconator himself during that process, I'm completely off base and you are entirely correct.
I personally have a Bacon factor of 4. My father once spilled peas on Kirk Douglas during shooting of "The Way West", who was in a movie with John Goodman who has since worked with Bacon. :-P
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 04:08 pm (UTC)